Database tracks city gun crimes

Leah Devorak | Photo Editor A photo of the Uptown neighborhood. There were 238 shootings within a mile of DU.

Liza Zulick | Staff Writer

Within a one mile radius of Duquesne University, there have been 238 shootings between 2010 and 2016, according to Public Source, a Pennsylvania-based investigative journalism site.

Of the 238 shootings, 14 of them were homicides, 101 of them were non-fatal and 123 of them were aggravated assaults. The closest shooting was on the corner of Forbes and Stevenson in June 2016.

A recent article by Public Source lets readers utilize police data to track and locate all known gun crimes. The article allowed users to search an address and information on all gun crimes within a one mile radius.

The site reports that since January of 2010, more than 322 homicides, 1,250 shootings with an injury and 1,490 gun assaults have all happened in the Pittsburgh area. However, the data did not include reports of shots fired.

Although students living on campus at Duquesne University experience the dangers of gun crimes, students who live off campus at various locations seem to experience more. One area that Duquesne students often live off campus is in the South Side of Pittsburgh, like Duquesne senior journalism and public relations major Matt Voggel.

“I have never seen gun crimes occur near my house or myself, personally. Though, I have heard of them,” Voggel said. “In general, I would consider the area in which I live to be safe, as safe as any neighborhood could be in a city like Pittsburgh.”

Some students like Voggel consider the area they live in to be safe. However, within a one mile radius of where Voggel lives, there have been 13 homicides, 84 non-fatal shootings and 93 aggravated assaults, adding up to 190 gun crimes.

Those figures caught Voggel off guard.

“That is surprising, actually. I would have not guessed those numbers would have been that high,” Voggel said. “It definitely makes me a little more concerned about who I’m living near.”

Ryan Stephany, an information systems management major and senior at Duquesne University also lives in the South Side of Pittsburgh, and has never seen or experienced any gun crimes while living off campus.

Although, within a mile radius of Stephany’s home, there have been 365 gun crimes since 2010. Twenty-eight homicides, 156 non-fatal shootings and 181 aggravated assaults have all occurred within that area.

“I like living off campus because it allows for more freedom, but I’m not a fan of South Side due to all of the sketchy crimes that happen near here,” Stephany said.